Journey to the East

The caravan moves at a steady pace; the four lizard-pulled carts marching slow but without stopping. The sun, the white and terrible giant above, shining over them like an all-watching eye.

Rubellus cart is the first one in the caravan and after a while of resting in the cramped insides of it, Voa decides to sit besides the merchant on the outside of it.

The merchant had not payed attention to her, his eyes serious for the first time since Voa had met him and watching the desert with care.

Ah! Of course, beasts.

Voa herself in her one year experience as a scavenger had never seen one, just an Alakran in the horizon once, its glossy, black armored body like a dark spot in the golden sands. But she had never seen a rattler or a huntsman, not even a single vermin! As such, her fear of them was mostly created by the tales Ilex told and not by actual experience. She knew the basics on how to avoid them and that killing one was basically impossible unless you were actually prepared to do so, and most merchants weren't.

No blade could pierce the armor of an alakran or block the fangs of a rattler. The best way to survive was to run or not call attention to yourself in the first place.

"Have you ever encountered a beast?" Asks Voa curiously, the merchant turns his head to look at her, his serious eyes turning as joyful as before.

"Ah, just once" answers Rubellus "A terrifying rattler, a small one I was later told, but its head was bigger than I was tall, so I don't think I ever want to encounter a grown one, ha ha!"

"How did you get away?" Questions Voa in an excited whisper, impressed with the survival of the merchant "Did you fight it?"

"Me? No way!" Laughs Rubellus "We had a Nashoba hunter with us as protection, since we were close to the border and he knew the terrain best and where the outlaw's territories location"

"He killed it then?" Asks Voa, she had never met anyone from Nash.

"Aye, with one of those hand cannons of theirs" responds Rubellus "Glorious to watch, but very loud, we couldn't stay afterwards to scavenge the corpse, just in case the noise had attracted another beast"

Voa nodded with interest, prompting him to continue.

"You have been to Nash?" Asks Voa with surprise, she didn't know merchants braved the land beyond the Athos mountain range.

"We usually stop by Old Fort once a month" Tells her Rubellus "It's a terrible land, but the town still has some wares to offer and people to buy our stock"

"So cool…" mumbles Voa to herself making Rubellus smile at her with pride. She had always thought of Nashobans as criminal savages, but she supposed that a town indicated people too, not only criminals.

"What about you? how does one become a servant to a rich man in Ifra? And being from Ethe too! It must be quite the tale" chuckles Rubellus and Voa panics for a second before remembering the story they had thought about.

"Not quite that interesting, I assure you!" Responds Voa in a shrill and nervous tone, she hopes he just thinks her dumb and not a liar "I used to be an scavenger, but got into an accident and I couldn't continue as before, I thought I could be a servant instead "

"An accident? I hope it wasn't painful" says Rubellus with a grave voice.

"No, no!…" says Voa with a nervous chuckle, then she swallows heavily, she already knew what to say….but it was still painful to remember "Just a rock that fell on my leg, it could have been worse, I'm sure…but after it, I wasn't as agile as before and in the desert one must always be in shape!"

"True, true…I'm sure this trip brings you joy, then. To be able to see and experience the desert again" says Rubellus, his smile suddenly much more mindful, probably trying not to hurt Voa's feelings.

"Yes…yes it does…I hope A-my master succeeds in his quest" Smiles Voa.

"A difficult quest indeed, the king may accept the request…but the gods…the gods don't seem to wish for the princess to marry" hums Rubellus with worry.

"I'm sure it's just bad luck" says Voa nervously, she hoped it was really just bad luck "Accidents happen all the time"

"True, of course. But so many…very bad fortune for Ethe" nods Rubellus, then, he looks beyond Voa "What do you think? Yaon doesn't have those problems"

Voa turns her head and sees that Nue is riding besides them, Voa tilts her head at him, also curious, she knew next to nothing about the empress of Yaon, merely what was gossiped in the market of Myrm. Not good things, of course, but gossip was always bad things and not always true.

"The empress has two daughters" says Nue after a while, tone careful "Having more than one child lowers the possibility of failure"

Rubellus nods like it makes sense, but Voa doesn't get it, he talks like children are cattle and not, well, children.

"What do you mean?" She asks and before Nue can answer, Rubellus does.

"Our princess is an only child, if something were to happen to her or she doesn't marry…I don't even want to think about that! But both Yaon and Ifra's royal families have a spare child, just in case" he says and Voa sees Nue nodding along "You could say they have a second chance with their second child"

"Oh! Yeah, I guess that makes sense" mumbles Voa still conflicted about the wording, her mind wanders then to Ifra and about the fact that Arsu had a younger sibling back in Ifra he had left behind.

After that, the conversation ends and, eventually, the caravan stops to rest for the day. The sun is not down yet, but Voa is happy they're putting up the camp already, they will probably get up very early to cover as much as they can before the setting sun forces them to stop again. Voa doesn't care, she wants to sleep on solid ground and not surrounded by stuff and inside a moving cart.

The carts create a deformed circle and some other merchant starts building a fire in the middle, Arsu helping with it while Voa watches and tries to learn the process. Most of the merchants go inside their carts to sleep the moment the sun disappears, only two decide to sleep under the stars with Voa, Nue and Arsu.

Voa curls as close to the fire as she can without burning herself and Arsu starts the process of cleaning his sword. Nue uses Kimara as a resting place by sitting in the half-moon the lizard creates as it lays down to sleep, Nue sitting against the animal and closing his eyes, leaning his head back and pointed at the night sky.

Disappointed that Nue doesn't want to talk, Voa turns to Arsu, that is completely immersed in his task. The other two merchants are already asleep, Arsu having offered himself to take the first watch, so Voa lowers her voice as she speaks with him, not wanting to wake the merchants.

"I just realized we should probably have something material to solidify our story" she says, Arsu doesn't stop cleaning, but hums to indicate he is listening "Like…something to give the princess or the king so he accepts the proposal…something to believe that you're really a rich man from Ifra"

Arsu stops for a fraction of a second before continuing, his eyes meeting Voa's and an eyebrow raised, wordlessly asking her to continue.

"What did you have in mind?" He asks, but Voa had been hoping he had already thought of something for the dowry, she grimaces and that makes Arsu huff.

"Your sword" says a voice and Voa turns to Nue, he sounded sleepy but he had opened an eye and lowered his head from Kimara's back to look at them.

"What?" Asks Arsu with narrowed eyes.

"Your sword is unique and expensive looking" adds Nue, bundling himself in his cloak better with only his head visible "It would probably convince them"

Voa stares at the sword and hums with interest. It is very pretty, the metal a bluish silver with its surface looking like rippling water, the pommel and handle made of gold and with incrusted gemstones in the hand-guard and pommel.

"No way" snarls Arsu "I'm not giving it away, not to some princess"

"We could get it back" says Voa with a pout, it was a good idea and they had nothing else on their possession that looks like a genuine treasure "Like…they would think it was a dowry gift, but we would get it back before leaving"

Arsu stays silent, exchanging his glaring at them to frowning at his sword.

"We would get it back…" he mumbles, narrowed eyes and gripping his sword harder, like she was about to steal it.

"We would!" Nods Voa sharply, eyes serious "I promise, we won't leave the city without it!"

"You swear?" Says Arsu as he points directly at Voa, his oil rag still grasped in his hand.

"I swear!"

"Swear it on your family?"

"Better yet! I swear it on my one and only scavenger badge!" Says Voa with a determined look.

Arsu huffs and then chuckles, expression softer than a second ago, making Voa splutter out a laugh.

"Okay" he says, his eyes back on his sword, adoring and soft "Okay…my sword can be the dowry gift"

"Yes!" Says Voa, punching her fist to the sky, then she shivers and pulls her hand back inside her blanket.

She smiles brightly and she can hear Nue snort from his spot.

It doesn't take long after that to fall asleep, the warmth lulling her away to the world of dreams.

The first day of their quest is over and Voa is excited for whatever is coming their way.